Opinion Crows Chat: Footy discussions with a difference

[jaytex]

There's a weird group polarization going on around here lately. And I'm guilty of getting sucked in. This week has gone to a new extreme. Anyone would think we're bottom of the ladder.

yeah I must admit I had a bit of a moment last night... spent maybe an hour getting all worked up reading the changes thread before it occurred to me that we're second on the ladder and, in the past, being second on the ladder was a source of pride and optimism and enjoyment for me. BigFooty is somewhat taking that away from me. I'd almost prefer to go back to being naïve and excited.

 

[marty36]

There's a weird group polarization going on around here lately. And I'm guilty of getting sucked in. This week has gone to a new extreme. Anyone would think we're bottom of the ladder.

Win tonight and we will hold Top spot fella, maybe for a day or could be for a week, first time I will be barracking for the hawks for a while

 

[NikkiNoo]

The more I've thought about it I don't actually mind the Thompson selection. He's on the list and worth a shot at some time, you know he'll go in hard at a contest. It's just going to be whether his lack of pace will be an issue. But with Cameron back in, and Beech coming back in, we're probably a quicker side than last week.

Even though it's not forecast to be pouring with rain, it will be wet and greasy conditions, and Bulldogs are a great contested ball side which won them a GF last year. We know Thompson will get in and give it a crack. Greenwood will be back.

Otten vs Doedee is a more difficult one for me. We know Otten is a very smart footballer and a great KPD, whether the pace of Doedee would've be useful we'll have to wait and see.

I was taken aback initially when I saw the team but then heard that Greenwood was being rested and it made more sense to me. Wet, slippery night which means that Thommo's lack of pace isn't as much as an issue as it would be on a dry deck. It was the perfect game to bring him in while Greenwood gets rested so that we get more out of him for the rest of this season and, hopefully, into finals. If we leave Thommo in next week and 'drop' Greenwood, then I can see a lot of questions should be asked of our selections, but as a replacement for Greenwood for this single game, considering the conditions and the opponents, I don't have an issue with it.

The Otten vs Doedee one comes down to height and experience in my mind. Tom is around the same height as Kelly, Brown, Smith etc. Otten is taller than all of them, so people seem to forget that he can play on smaller players as well as the taller players. Having a shorter defender play on taller players is not good (hello Cheney at Melbourne and Hawthorn).

 

[dogs105]

The Otten vs Doedee one comes down to height and experience in my mind. Tom is around the same height as Kelly, Brown, Smith etc. Otten is taller than all of them, so people seem to forget that he can play on smaller players as well as the taller players. Having a shorter defender play on taller players is not good (hello Cheney at Melbourne and Hawthorn).

and at Adelaide

 

[Crowbots are dead]

Absolutely. A few weeks ago this board went into meltdown on us being too tall against freo. We then completely dominated with otten being a standout. The mob is not always right!

 

[NikkiNoo]

and at Adelaide

We've tried mostly not to use him like that where possible though. Some times due to injuries we have, but the majority of him playing in the AFL side has been against similar height opponents.

 

[dogs105]

We've tried mostly not to use him like that where possible though. Some times due to injuries we have, but the majority of him playing in the AFL side has been against similar height opponents.

Yes - he struggled a few times in the wrong role in his first year here.

 

[Scorpus]

Absolutely. A few weeks ago this board went into meltdown on us being too tall against freo. We then completely dominated with otten being a standout. The mob is not always right!

It worked once and didn't work a few other times

 

[dogs105]

It worked once and didn't work a few other times

I feel we were too tall for quite a while there. And I still reckon Talia, Lever and Kelly or Doedee (or both) is enough tall timber down back against most teams. Especially when our natural structure seems to be 4 tall forwards - we seem to be trying to play the maximum (reasonable) at both ends.

 

[CrowBloke]

I don't actually mind the Thompson selection. He's on the list and worth a shot at some time, you know he'll go in hard at a contest. It's just going to be whether his lack of pace will be an issue.

whether the pace of Doedee would've be useful we'll have to wait and see.

Yes, I think Thommo will add some grunt to the inside scrimmages.
You mentioned 'pace' twice --- as I type it's 4p.m. and blowing a gale from the WSW. If that doesn't ease off I don't know that pace will be the issue in the game because wet, slippery, windy conditions are a great leveller (Freo game aside, when we played some of the bets wet-weather football I've ever seen).

I think we're in for a hard, scrappy slog but I'm hoping the Crows will follow-up from last week and win ugly.

 

[Crowbots are dead]

It worked once and didn't work a few other times

Didn't see to many of you own up to it when it worked. What about tonight? Can't have it both way mate

 

[Scorpus]

Didn't see to many of you own up to it when it worked. What about tonight? Can't have it both way mate

It worked tonight, sure, because Otten wasn't playing as a forward. But the Dogs played poorly and both Otten and Lever did not have tall opponents, so a shorter side would also have gotten the job done.

Will be interesting to see if it works against a better team next week

 

[Carmo]

A thing that I thought of about last nights game. A factor (there maybe a few) for the bulldogs demise has got to be where the players heads are at with respect to umpiring. With some of the audio coming from the umpires mic last night, never have I heard so many players complaining so much. There would be 5 or 6 guys emphatically complaining, a couple of times about nothing decisions. I don't think I've seen it that bad before.

I didn't mind thommo's inclusion, we needed to see where he was at, now rather than later, in the form of taking a gamble just before finals or in finals if we have injuries, its too late then. On last night's form and discipline levels he goes back out straight away. If he can string 3 to 7+ great games at SANFL I'd consider him again.

It worries me about Jacobs. I think we are resting him more in games and giving him less time in ruck. I still would have liked to get O'brien in but we left it and left it and now he's injured. That's one cross against the coaching staff for me.

The next two games will be great tests of where we're at, both Melb and Geelong wont do a bulldogs and let us play our A game, so fantastic tests for us. We should be able to see how far sloaney has progressed in handling a tag. I wonder if we'll have a crack at tagging, especially against geelong. Would be something worth trying, especially if we fall a way behind.

 

[Carmo]

Another thought....

In another thread someone mentioned about the salary cap and everyone else on an automatic percentage increase but not us. If that was true, that means we wouldnt have been able to put any offers to players from other clubs, dusty, fyfe, etc until after the close of the new deal.

So things would really have only just started to heat up in free agent land......

Also, I assume that Port and Carlton had the automatic payments, but chose to go down the path of letting a lot of players go uncontracted in order to gain competitive advantage from the new deal situation, this allows them to simply cut to accommodate big deals, though it comes with the risk of losing one or several possibly important team members as well.

 

[FantasticShirt]

 

[dogs105]

Terrible news. Condolences to Hamish and his family.

 

[maxlilly]

Very sorry to hear that sad news.

It does feel like our club has more than its fair share of tragedies

 

[John Who]

Condolences to Hamish and family. May she rest in peace.
Hopefully the boys can get up for a fighting win.

 

[Carmo]

Well, I can remember at the start of the season, crows were being criticised for not being able to get O'meara and Gibbs and amongst all that circus Crows were being slammed for being inept traders and we should be more like Hawthorn. Some suggested Brad Crouch would stand up to become equivalent to getting O'meara. Others said Brad Crouch should have been the trade bait with his dodgy legs.

Well, safe to say, I'm pretty happy we retained Brad Crouch and didn't get O'meara (had no chance anyway since he was never coming to SA). Even if Brad misses every game from now on and O'meara plays, pretty sure Brad will have the better season. Also, the master recruiters hawthorn are bottom six and fail recruiters adelaide are shoe ins for top 4.